Redbox, a division of Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), has sued Warner Home Video over that company's decision to delay the DVD kiosk rental chain's access to its new releases. That lawsuit follows similar suits against Universal and 20th Century Fox, both of which also have sought to delay Redbox releases to preserve demand for higher margin retail sales."Redbox remains committed to providing our customers the new release DVDs they want, where they want and at the low price they want," Redbox President Mitch Lowe said in a statement.
The Associated Press reports that "A U.S. District Court judge in Delaware gave Redbox a partial victory this week in its case against Universal. The court dismissed claims of improper copyright use and interference in Redbox contracts but let antitrust claims stand, leaving the door open to a trial."
Redbox's argument is simple: By arbitrarily delaying the release of its DVDs to Redbox, the studios are harming competition and driving up prices for consumers.
Some studios, including Lion's Gate and Sony, have opted to take advantage of the huge demand that Redbox provides -- and avoid the legal fees of prolonged legal fights.
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